“It doesn’t matter what color you are, how much money you have, how much education you have, things happen: grief, depression, anxiety, which COVID has really unleashed,” said F.T. Burden, president and CEO of Springboard Community Services, a regional full service behavioral health and case management organization.

Burden, who will celebrate his fifth year as CEO of the organization in September, told the AFRO although stigma over mental healthcare is still a thing in the Black community, that old bane is becoming less of an issue.

I think probably over the last few years…the idea of normalizing mental health like any other health issue, has helped a lot towards helping people feel more comfortable with accessing mental health services.”

According to Burden, Black people and other people of color have also had more access to mental health services because of the crowning policy achievement of the Obama administration.

Beyond the ubiquitous coronavirus pandemic, the current national reckoning with systemic racism is adding stress to the lives of Black people and forcing mental health providers like Springboard to adjust accordingly to fully serve a significant number of its clients.

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